Elite Systems, the long established UK based developer and electronic publisher of games for portable, mobile and other devices has released a "concept" video exploring how the legendary 1984 ZX Spectrum game - Daley Thompson's Decathlon - could look / play if updated for the iPhone / iPad.

“The video contrasts the original ZX Spectrum “Decathlon” game with an update for the iPhone / iPod. It explores how the original 2D decathlon game could be represented in 3D; how the familiar button-bashing” play controls could be combined with bespoke touch-screen inputs specifically designed for each individual event and how many of the 10 events could be represented. On the eve of London 2012, the video’s intended to celebrate Daley’s achievements at the Olympic Games and we hope it will be widely shared.”

“The video features packing art originally created in 1984, by Bob Wakelin.”

About Daley Thompson's Decathlon (the ZX Spectrum “Decathlon” game): Daley Thompson's Decathlon is a computer game based on Konami's Track & Field, developed and released under license by Ocean Software in 1984. It was released in the wake of Daley Thompson's popularity following his gold medals in the decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. Sinclair User gave the game a score of 8/10. It went on to become the biggest selling Spectrum game of Q4 1984. The game won the award for Game Of The Year 1984 in Crash magazine and was the Best Arcade Style Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. The game was included on the 1985 compilation They Sold a Million, along with Beach-Head, Sabre Wulf and Jet Set Willy. The game's soundtrack was composed by Martin Galway. The introduction music is based on the 1978 electronic music piece "Rydeen" by Yellow Magic Orchestra.

About Daley Thompson (Source: Wikipedia): Francis Morgan Ayodélé "Daley" Thompson CBE (born 30 July 1958), is a former decathlete from England. He won the decathlon gold medal at the (Summer Games) in 1980 and 1984 and broke the world record for the event four times. With four world records, two (Summer Games) gold medals, three Commonwealth titles and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be the greatest decathlete of all time. Robert Chalmers described him as "the greatest all-round athlete this country has ever produced."

Daley Thompson is an internationally renowned athlete and owns and controls all rights title and interests in his marketable identity and / or any trait that uniquely identifies him including his name, nick name, likeness, portrait, performance, biographical facts, character, reputation, goodwill, personality, signature and trademark registrations. All rights reserved.

Elite® is a registered trademark in the UK and elsewhere and is used with permission.

Elite Systems, the long established UK based developer and electronic publisher of games for portable, mobile and other devices has confirmed that iPhone / iPad game (featured in the "concept" video exploring how the legendary 1984 ZX Spectrum game - Daley Thompson's Decathlon - could look / play if updated), has indeed been made.

Daley Thompson is an internationally renowned athlete and owns and controls all rights title and interests in his marketable identity and / or any trait that uniquely identifies him including his name, nick name, likeness, portrait, performance, biographical facts, character, reputation, goodwill, personality, signature and trademark registrations. All rights reserved.

Elite® is a registered trademark in the UK and elsewhere and is used with permission

Having previously published a ‘concept’ video for a decathlon app, Elite Systems, the long established UK based developer and electronic publisher of games for portable, mobile and other devices has confirmed that it will be releasing a unique range of iOS apps to celebrate the achievements of the world’s greatest decathletes of the last 30 years. The range, which will be launched by the current Olympic Champion in the decathlon, American icon, Bryan Clay (full title, ‘BRYAN CLAY’S DECATHLON 2012’) has been scheduled for release during the weekend of 3rd August, 2012 – the opening day of the track and field events at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Commenting upon the launch plans, Elite’s MD Steve Wilcox said,

“This game, BRYAN CLAY’S DECATHLON 2012 is the spiritual successor to Track & Field an Olympic-themed sports arcade game developed and published by Konami in 1983. This game is being released to celebrate Bryan Clay's achievements as the reigning Olympic and former World champion in the decathlon and as the former World Indoor champion in the heptathlon.

Features:
- 3D graphics (much as we still enjoy the original arcade “Decathlon” game, we couldn't bring ourselves to use 2D graphics in creating “2012”)
- familiar “button-bashing” play controls, combined with bespoke touch-screen inputs specifically designed for each individual event
- the option of competing in each of the 10 events individually, or collectively as a decathlon
- 3 player-selectable game-difficulty levels; “easy”, “medium” and “hard”
- local high scores, both for the decathlon and for each of the 10 individual events
- universal app; buy once and use on your iPod touch, iPhone and iPad at no extra cost

About Track & Field (the arcade “Decathlon” game): the arcade game, released in 1983, was known as Hyper Olympics in Japan. The simple game play, based on quick repeating button presses, set the ground rules for sequels and similar games in the genre for decades afterwards. In the original arcade game, the player uses two "run" buttons (or a trackball in later units) and one "action" button to control an athlete competing in six events: 100 Meter Dash, Long jump, Javelin throw, 110 Meter Hurdles, Hammer and High jump. In each event, there is a qualifying time or level that the player must achieve to advance to the next event; failing to qualify (in one heat for running events or three tries in the other events) will reduce the player's number of lives by one, but if none are present in his/her disposal, the game will end.

About Bryan Clay's Decathlon 2012 (“2012”): this game, “2012”, is a Summer Games 3D: Special Edition.

About Bryan Clay (Source: Wikipedia): Bryan Ezra Tsumoru Clay (born January 3, 1980) is an American decathlete. He won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the decathlon. His victory margin of 240 points in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the largest since 1972. He also won the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the decathlon.

Bryan Clay is an internationally renowned athlete and owns and controls all rights title and interests in his marketable identity and / or any trait that uniquely identifies him including his name, nick name, likeness, portrait, performance, biographical facts, character, reputation, goodwill, personality, signature and trademark registrations. All rights reserved.

Elite® is a registered trademark in the UK and elsewhere and is used with permission.

For us Brits who remember this well, why not add both Athletes? I would much rather choose Daley over some American any day - if only for that lovely warm feeling of playing something from my childhood?

Then again, I don't suppose it matters as I don't care for the 3d graphics myself. Looks like I'll have to get Daley working in Spectaculator. =)

There might be something we dont know about, if Elite approached Daley Thompson about doing a new revamped version of Decathlon he might have wanted a huge percentage or fee. Or perhaps for a wider market they've instead used the american guy as that might lead to more sales in the US market.

I dont really care who the person is, just hope the events work well and we have a decent updated Track n Field/Hyper Sports type game on iOS

Dont get me wrong i've got Spectaculator but i'm quite happy to buy the 'official' Elite Speccy game so they get the small bit of money from the app.

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